France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has resisted the temptation of recalling a
fit-again Dimitri Yachvilli for their game against England at Stade de
France on Sunday.

Indeed Saint Andre has stuck with the same 23-man squad that did duty against Ireland although he may yet be contemplating changes in the starting line-up Yachvilli started France's opening game against Italy last month but picked up a back injury soon after and Morgan Parra played in their 23-17 win at Scotland and again in the 17-17 draw with Ireland.

Yachvilli, however, returned to action on Saturday with a matching winning performance for Biarritz against Bordeaux-Begles with the diminutive scrum half contributing 25 points including, two tries.

Despite saying immediately after the Ireland game yesterday that it felt like a defeat, Saint Andre was more encouraged this morning pointing to a second half comeback which he felt was France's most complete 40 minutes of the tournament to date. He is aware also that consecutive wins against England and France would still give them the Championship

The most likely change would seem to be the recall to starting duties at hooker of William Servat who is playing out his final season of international rugby while Maxime Mermoz could come in for Aurilien Rougerie at centre after the Clermont man's ill-starred performance against the Irish. The experienced Rougerie, however, has had very few poor games in his long career for France and Saint-Andre is likely to take that into account and give him an immediate chance to redeem himself

The biggest debating point in the camp this week will be France's inability to get our of the blocks – they went 10-0 down against Scotland in a poor opening 20 minutes against Scotland and then went 17-6 down to Ireland before recovering to force the draw.

"We are aware of this habit of starting slowly and we are searching for a solution," says captain Thierry Dusautoir. "We have been for quite a while. Still we have to work on it because it is clear those early points we gave away against the Irish cost us the game."